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Over 100 dead in new migrant tragedy, second wreck feared

‘Not enough has been done so far to avoid these tragedies’

By - Nov 03,2016 - Last updated at Nov 03,2016

Migrants and refugees panic as they fall in the water during a rescue operation of the Topaz Responder rescue ship run by Maltese NGO Moas and Italian Red Cross, off the Libyan coast in the Mediterranean Sea, on Thursday (AFP photo)

ROME — At least 110 people are feared to have drowned off Libya when a migrant boat capsized, and more may have died in another stricken vessel, the UN’s refugee agency said on Thursday, citing survivor testimonies.

“A vessel with around 140 people on board overturned Wednesday just a few hours after setting off from Libya, throwing everyone into the water. Only 29 people survived,” UNHCR Spokesperson Carlotta Sami told AFP.

The Norwegian vessel Siem Pilot was first on the scene, around 20 nautical miles off Libya, and rescued the survivors — all of whom were in poor condition after spending hours in the water — and recovered 12 bodies.

Those pulled to safety were transferred to the island of Lampedusa by the Italian coast guard. 

In what could be a second incident, which could not be immediately confirmed by the coast guard, two women told the UN agency they believed they were the only survivors in an disaster in which some 125 people drowned.

“They told us they were on a faulty dinghy which began to sink as soon as they set sail. They were the only survivors,” Sami said.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) quoted the same survivors, putting the death toll for both wrecks at 240 people.

“Not enough has been done so far to avoid these tragedies,” said Flavio di Giacomo, IOM spokesman in Italy.

The Italian coast guard said it had no information on the second reported rescue on Wednesday or the saving of two women.

One of the 29 survivors had suffered severe burns after sitting in fuel and was transferred by helicopter to hospital in Palermo along with an other who suffered from epilepsy.

Over 4,000 migrants have died or are missing feared drowned after attempting the perilous Mediterranean crossing this year.

 

Migrants overboard 

 

The rescue situation is often chaotic, with people confused, sick or exhausted after periods in crisis-hit Libya unable to specify how many people were on board their dinghies at the outset or what vessel pulled them from the water.

At least two rescue missions were underway off Libya on Thursday, with close to 180 people pulled to safety according to an AFP photographer aboard the Topaz Responder, run by the Malta-based MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station).

“Before dawn, we saw a migrant dinghy, lit up by the Responder’s search light,” photographer Andreas Solaro said, adding that 31 people, 28 men and three women, one of them elderly, were rescued.

In the second rescue, 147 people from Eritrea, Ghana, Sudan, Mali and Sierra Leone were pulled to safety, including 20 women, though only after some had fallen into the sea.

“The [Responder] crew was shouting at them to sit down and stay calm while the lifejackets were handed out but they were getting agitated, and around 10 of them fell overboard, some without lifejackets on,” Solaro said.

All were pulled to safety.

October marked a record monthly high in the number of migrants arriving in Italy in recent years — some 27,000 people — and the departures have showed no sign of slowing, despite worsening weather in the Mediterranean.

Amnesty International warned on Thursday the pressure placed on Italy by Europe to cope alone with the worst migration crisis since World War II had led to “unlawful expulsions and ill-treatment which in some cases may amount to torture”.

 

The report was bluntly rejected by Italy’s chief of police, who denied the use of violent methods in the force’s handling of migrants.

Iran FM says ready to visit Berlin, Paris, London for nuclear talks

By - Apr 24,2025 - Last updated at Apr 24,2025

TEHRAN — Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday he would be willing to visit Germany, France and Britain for talks on his country's nuclear programme.

 

Tehran recently reopened nuclear talks with its arch-foe the United States, engaging in two rounds of mediated negotiations in Muscat and Rome, with a third slated for Saturday back in the Omani capital.

 

Germany, France and Britain, along with the United States, were among the parties to a landmark 2015 deal that placed curbs Iran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief,  a deal that collapsed after US President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018.

 

"After my recent consultations in Moscow and Beijing, I am ready to take the first step with visits to Paris, Berlin and London," Araghchi said in a post on X, adding that he was open to talks "not only on the nuclear issue, but in each and every other area of mutual interest and concern".

 

Araghchi was in China on Wednesday to meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi ahead of Saturday's talks with the United States.

 

Last week he visited Moscow for similar discussions and met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

 

Araghchi voiced satisfaction at the level of cooperation with allies China and Russia, but said on Thursday that ties with the three European powers, or E3, "are currently down".

 

He added that "the ball is now in the E3's court", saying they "have an opportunity to do away with the grip of Special Interest groups and forge a different path".

 

French foreign ministry spokesman Christophe Lemoine, told AFP that Paris would wait and see "if this announcement by the Iranian minister is followed by effects".

 

He added that France "will very willingly continue to dialogue with the Iranians" on the nuclear subject.

 

Germany and Britain did not immediately comment on the matter.

 

Iran and the E3 in have recently taken steps to re-establish a dialogue on the nuclear issue, holding a handful of meetings since late last year.

 

On Wednesday Araghchi slammed, without elaborating, "attempts by the Israeli regime and certain Special Interest groups to derail diplomacy" and undermine the ongoing talks with the US.

 

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Iran was an existential threat and warned that "the fate of all humanity" was at stake if it acquired nuclear arms.

 

Iran has consistently denied allegations it is pursuing an atomic bomb, insisting its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only.

 

Western governments have also criticised Iran's missile programme and accused it of providing Russia with weapons in its war against Ukraine.

 

Iran has denied the accusations, saying it has not supported any side in the conflict.

 

Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 25

By - Apr 24,2025 - Last updated at Apr 24,2025

A boy walks with an empty sack past a closed-down bakery that ran out of flour in Gaza City on April 1, 2025 (AFP photo)

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Gaza rescue teams and medics said Israeli air strikes killed at least 25 people on Thursday, including a family of six whose home was struck in Gaza City.

Israel resumed its military offensive in the Gaza Strip on March 18, following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire that had brought a temporary halt to fighting in the blockaded Palestinian territory.

Six members of one family -- a couple and their four children -- were killed when an air strike levelled their home in northern Gaza City, the civil defence said in a statement.

Nidal Al Sarafiti, a relative of the family, said the strike was carried out when the family was sleeping.

"What can I say? The destruction has spared no one," he told AFP.

Nine people were killed and several wounded in another strike on a former police station in the Jabalia area of northern Gaza, according to a statement from the Indonesian hospital where the casualties were brought.

The military said it struck a Hamas "command and control centre" in the Jabalia area but did not specify whether the target was the police station.

"The command and control centre was used by the terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops," it said in a statement.

Elsewhere, five people died when the tents they had sought refuge in were hit.

Three people were killed, including a child, in the town of Zuwaida in central Gaza, the civil defence said in a statement.

Another two people were killed in a strike on a home in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

"We were sitting in peace when the missile fell.. I just don't understand ... what's happening," said Mohammed Faris, who witnessed the strike on the house.

Since Israel resumed its military operations, at least 1,978 people have been killed in Gaza, raising the total death toll to at least 51,355 since the war began, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

The war was ignited by a Hamas-led attack on Israel in 2023, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Gaza rescuers say charred bodies recovered as Israeli strikes kill 17

By - Apr 23,2025 - Last updated at Apr 23,2025

A Palestinian girl mourns a relative, killed in an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter, at the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City on April 23, 2025 (AFP photo)

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — Gaza's civil defence agency on Wednesday said its crew recovered charred bodies from a school-turned-shelter for displaced people, as Israeli strikes killed 17 people in the Hamas-run territory since dawn.

Israel resumed its military campaign in Gaza on March 18, following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted the fighting in the besieged Palestinian territory.

"Seventeen people have been killed since dawn," civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

He said 11 of the victims, which included women and children, died in an air strike targeting the Yafa school building in Gaza City's Al Tuffah neighbourhood.

"The school was housing displaced people. The bombing sparked a massive blaze, and several charred bodies have since been recovered," he said.

Since the war began following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, tens of thousands of displaced Gazans have sought refuge in schools to escape the violence.

Aid agencies estimate that the vast majority of Gaza's 2.4 million residents have been displaced at least once since the war began.

Bassal said his crew has received distress calls from several areas in Gaza.

"We lack the necessary tools and equipment to carry out effective rescue operations or recover the bodies of martyrs," he added.

On Tuesday, the Israeli military stated that it had targeted approximately 40 "engineering vehicles", alleging they were being used for "terror purposes".

Bassal said air strikes destroyed bulldozers and other equipment needed to "clear debris and recover the bodies of martyrs from beneath the rubble", as well as to "save lives, pull people from the rubble".

Elsewhere in Gaza, additional fatalities were reported on Wednesday.

A child was killed in an air strike on a home in the northern Jabalia area, and another individual was killed in a similar incident in the southern city of Khan Yunis, the civil defence said.

Four more people were killed in Israeli shelling of homes in eastern Gaza City. Several others remain trapped beneath the rubble, according to Bassal.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the latest strikes.

Since Israel's military campaign resumed, at least 1,890 people have been killed in Gaza, bringing the total death toll since the war erupted to at least 51,266, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Hamas's attack on Israel in 2023 that ignited the war resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

Islamist leader among 2 dead in strikes on Lebanon blamed on Israel

By - Apr 22,2025 - Last updated at Apr 22,2025

Lebanese security forces and forensic experts inspect the scene of an Israeli airstrike in Baawerta (Baaouerta), near the coastal town of Damour, about 20 kilometres south of Beirut, on April 22, 2025, which reportedly killed a military leader of Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese Islamist group allied with Palestinian Hamas (AFP photo)

BEIRUT, Lebanon — A military leader from Hamas-aligned Lebanese Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya died Tuesday in an Israeli strike south of Beirut, a security official said, as authorities reported another dead in a separate raid.

Israel has continued to carry out regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November truce with militant group Hizbollah that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities between the foes including two months of all-out war.

Lebanon's civil defence said "an Israeli drone targeted a car" near the coastal town of Damour, about 20 kilometres south of Beirut, and rescuers recovered a man's body from the vehicle.

Jamaa Islamiya in a statement announced the death of Hussein Atoui, described as "an academic leader and university professor".

It said an Israeli drone strike "targeted his car as he was travelling to his workplace in Beirut".

A security official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Atoui was a leader of Jamaa Islamiya's armed wing, the Al Fajr Forces.

An AFP photographer saw the charred wreckage of a car at the scene. The Lebanese army had cordoned off the area and forensic teams were conducting an inspection.

Jamaa Islamiya, closely linked to both Palestinian militant group Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah, claimed responsibility for multiple attacks against Israel before the November 27 ceasefire.

Also Tuesday, Lebanon's health ministry said an "Israeli enemy" strike in south Lebanon's Tyre district killed one person.

Under the truce, Hezbollah was to pull its fighters north of Lebanon's Litani River and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.

Israel was to withdraw all its forces from south Lebanon, but troops remain in five positions that it deems "strategic".

Israel on Sunday said it killed two senior members of Hezbollah in strikes on Lebanon.

After unclaimed rocket fire against Israel in late March, Lebanon's army said last week it had arrested several Lebanese and Palestinian suspects, while a security official said they included three Hamas members.

US envoy to Israel urges Hamas to sign deal so aid can enter Gaza

Gaza rescuers say seven killed in Israeli air strikes

By - Apr 22,2025 - Last updated at Apr 22,2025

A girls stands embracing a man as they inspect destroyed bulldozers and other heavy vehicles at the Jabalia municipality garage, which was hit by Israeli bombardment, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 22, 2025 (AFP photo)

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — The new US ambassador to Israel on Monday called on Palestinian militant group Hamas to accept a deal that would secure the release of hostages, in exchange for the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

"We call upon Hamas to sign an agreement so that humanitarian aid can flow into Gaza to the people who desperately need it," Mike Huckabee said in a video statement on X.

"When that happens, and hostages are released which is an urgent matter for all of us, then we hope that the humanitarian aid will flow and flow freely knowing it will be done without Hamas being able to confiscate and abuse their own people", he added.

Huckabee's message comes after Hamas on Thursday signalledits rejection of Israel's latest truce proposal, which a Hamas source said proposed a hostage-prisoner swap and the entry of aid.

The militants' chief negotiator said the group rejected any "partial" agreements and sought a comprehensive deal including "halting the war" and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

The war began in October 2023 when Hamas attacked Israel.

Qatar, with the United States and Egypt, brokered a truce in Gaza between Israel and Hamas which began on January 15 and enabled a surge in aid, alongside the exchange of hostages and prisoners.

The initial phase of the truce ended in early March, with the two sides unable to agree on the next steps.

Hamas had insisted that negotiations be held for a second phase of the truce, leading to a permanent end to the war, as outlined in the January framework.

Israel sought an extension of the first phase. It blocked all aid to Gaza on March 2 and then resumed its air and ground offensive against Hamas on March 18.

Israel has accused the Palestinian militant group of diverting aid, which Hamas denies.

Last week the United Nations said Gaza was facing its most severe humanitarian crisis since the war began.

The heads of 12 major aid organisations warned on Thursday that "famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts" of the territory.

Gaza's civil defence agency said Tuesday that seven people were killed in fresh Israeli air strikes across the Hamas-run territory.

"The occupation launched violent air strikes on Gaza City and the towns of Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun, and Khan Yunis, killing seven civilians," civil defence spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.

Four people were killed in the Al-Rimal area near Gaza City, two in Al-Sabra west of Gaza City and one in Khan Yunis.

"The occupation also destroyed more than 10 homes east of Gaza City and in Rafah," he added.

The Israeli military, which did not immediately comment, has intensified its aerial bombardments and expanded its ground operations in the Gaza Strip since it resumed its offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory on March 18.

Gaza's civil defence agency on Monday accused the Israeli military of carrying out "summary executions" in the killing of 15 rescue workers last month, rejecting the findings of an internal probe by the army.

At least 1,691 people have been killed in Gaza since the military resumed its offensive, bringing the total death toll since the war erupted to at least 51,065, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Mideast leaders, groups praise Pope Francis over Gaza

By - Apr 21,2025 - Last updated at Apr 21,2025

A portrait of late Pope Francis is displayed in the Franciscan Church in the Old City of Jerusalem on April 21, 2025 (AFP photo)

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories — Middle Eastern leaders and Arab movements praised Pope Francis, who died on Monday, for criticising Israel's offensive on Gaza, his calls for a ceasefire and his commitment to interfaith dialogue.

"We lost a faithful friend of the Palestinian people and their legitimate rights," Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said, according to the official Wafa news agency.

He noted that Francis "recognised the Palestinian state and authorised the Palestinian flag to be raised in the Vatican".

Bassem Naim, a senior official from Islamist militant group Hamas which runs the Gaza Strip, hailed the pope's opposition to the 18-month-long war between Israel and Hamas.

"Pope Francis was a steadfast advocate for the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, particularly in his unwavering stance against the war and acts of genocide perpetrated against our people in Gaza in recent months," Naim said in a statement.

Francis spoke of the Gaza war a day before he died, saying that a "growing climate of anti-Semitism around the world is worrisome" while condemning the "deplorable humanitarian situation" in Gaza and reiterating his call for a ceasefire.

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said Francis's "voice in condemning Israeli brutality was loud and clear until the very last moment".

His "compass on the Palestinian issue always pointed in the right direction", Aboul Gheit added, recalling "his daily communication with the residents of Gaza as they endured brutal Israeli aggression and bombardment".

Built 'bridges'

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian praised Francis's "condemnation of the genocide committed by the Israeli regime in Gaza".

Iran does not recognise Israel and has made support for the Palestinian cause a central tenet of its foreign policy since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hizbollah group, which initiated cross-border hostilities with Israel over the Gaza war, noted Francis's "clear positions calling for an end to the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip... and his support for the Palestinian cause".

 Egypt's Grand Imam of Al Azhar, Sunni Islam's prestigious seat of learning, said Francis would be remembered for championing interfaith dialogue.

Sheikh Ahmed Al Tayeb said his "brother" had "strengthened relations with Al-Azhar and the Islamic world, through his visits to numerous Islamic and Arab countries, and through his views demonstrating fairness and humanity, particularly regarding the aggression on Gaza and combating abhorrent Islamophobia".

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi said Francis "worked tirelessly to promote tolerance and build bridges of dialogue... and was a champion of the Palestinian cause, defending legitimate rights and calling for an end to conflict".

Morocco's King Mohammed VI paid tribute to Francis's dedication to "peace, dialogue, tolerance" and religious coexistence.

Lebanon's Christian President Joseph Aoun called Francis's death "a loss for all humanity, for he was a powerful voice for justice and peace" who called for "dialogue between religions and cultures".

The multi-confessional country announced three days of official mourning.

West Bank campus a dystopian shelter for Palestinians uprooted again

By - Apr 21,2025 - Last updated at Apr 21,2025

Palestinians check the rubble of buildings which were demolished by Israeli amy excavators in Nilin north west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, on April 21, 2025 (AFP photo)

JENIN, PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES — On deserted university grounds in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian children run outside nearly empty buildings, their playground after being driven from their homes by a major Israeli "counter-terrorism" operation.

 

Between a stadium and flower fields where goats now graze, the children play to escape boredom. They have no school to go to since the Israeli military ordered residents to leave the Jenin refugee camp more than two months ago.

 

Mohammed Shalabi, a 53-year-old father who is among several hundred Palestinians sheltering at the university campus in Jenin city, recalled the day he heard that special Israeli forces were inside the camp.

 

"Everyone knows that when the army enters, it destroys the infrastructure, even the cars," said the municipal worker.

 

Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced from the northern West Bank since Israel launched the offensive dubbed "Iron Wall" on January 21 in the area.

 

Shalabi first left Jenin camp for nearby villages before authorities offered accommodation at the now vacant premises of the Arab American University, one of the leading institutions in the West Bank.

 

Shalabi said he has avoided "discussing all of this" with his 80-year-old father to protect his fragile health.

 

"But he understands, and sometimes he cries, because he lived through the Nakba, and now this..." said Shalabi, referring to the mass displacement of Palestinians in the war that accompanied Israel's creation in 1948.

 

- No return -

 

Now forced to leave their homes in the Jenin refugee camp, residents fear a repeat of the collective trauma they inherited.

 

The United Nations agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, provides aid but recent Israeli legislation barring coordination with Israeli military authorities has complicated its work.

 

The cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the West Bank, lacks the funds to help.

 

Many international organisations are already focusing much of their efforts in the Gaza Strip, a separate Palestinian territory where the Israel-Hamas war since October 2023 has created a dire humanitarian crisis.

 

"No one is interested in what's happening here," said a social worker who often visits the displacement shelter at the university to hand out blankets, food or grocery money.

 

Public services like rubbish collection are rare or virtually non-existent. Many displaced residents have asked for a temporary school to be set up for the children but to no avail.

 

Most shops are closed, and the nearest supermarket is a 20-minute walk away.

 

All the while, Israeli army bulldozers operate in the Jenin camp, leaving behind a trail of destruction.

 

"They told us we no longer have a home, and that we won't be returning to the camp," said displaced resident Umm Majd.

 

Some camp residents who attempted to go back say they were turned away.

 

In early March, an UNRWA official spoke of growing concerns that "the reality being created on the ground aligns with the vision of annexation of the West Bank."

 

 

 

Yemen's Huthis say US strikes on Sanaa kill at least 12

By - Apr 21,2025 - Last updated at Apr 21,2025

People assess the damage caused by a US airstrike in a neighbourhood in the Huthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa on April 21, 2025 (AFP photo)

SANAA — Yemen's Huthis said early Monday that US air strikes on Sanaa killed at least 12 people and wounded 30, with a military spokesperson later claiming attacks on US aircraft carriers and Israel.

 

The Huthi-run Saba news agency cited the ministry as saying the dead and injured had come from overnight strikes "by the American enemy" on a market and a residential zone in Sanaa's Farwa district.

 

Other raids were reported late Sunday in the central province of Marib, Hodeida in the west and the Huthi bastion of Saada in the north, Saba said.

 

Huthi miltary spokesman Yahya Saree said the group launched attacks on two US aircraft carriers in response to the latest deadly American strikes.

 

The Huthis also targeted two Israeli locations with drones, he said.

 

The US military has been carrying out almost daily attacks for the past month, saying it was targeting the "Iran-backed Huthi terrorists" to stop attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

 

One attack on Thursday on the Ras Issa oil port killed some 80 people and injured 150, according to the Huthis.

 

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said Saturday that he was "gravely concerned" by the US strikes. But he also called on the Huthis to stop missile attacks on Israel and Red Sea shipping.

 

The Huthis said they started missile attacks in solidarity with Hamas as it fights Israeli forces in Gaza. US raids started in January 2024 but have been stepped up since President Donald Trump took office this year.

 

 

US aid cuts strain response to health crises worldwide - WHO

By - Apr 20,2025 - Last updated at Apr 20,2025

RIYADH — The United States slashing foreign aid risks piling pressure on already acute humanitarian crises across the globe, a World Health Organization official said Sunday, also warning against withdrawing from the UN agency.

Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has effectively frozen foreign aid funding, moved to dismantle the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and other programmes, and announced plans to leave the WHO.

Washington, which had long been the WHO's biggest donor, did not pay its 2024 dues, and it remains unclear if the United States will meet its membership obligations for 2025

The agency, already facing a gaping deficit this year, has proposed shrinking its budget by a fifth, likely reducing its reach and workforce, according to an earlier AFP report citing an internal email.

"The WHO with its partners have a significant role in sustaining healthcare systems, rehabilitation of healthcare systems, emergency medical team training and dispatching, pre-placement of trauma kits," Hanan Balkhy, the WHO's regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, told AFP.

"Many of these programmes have now stopped or are not going to be able to continue," she said.

The funding cuts will likely hinder the ability to continue delivering robust aid to communities in desperate need of care.

Balkhy cited the ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Sudan, and Yemen as areas where healthcare institutions and aid programmes were already under pressure before the funding shakeups.

In the Gaza Strip, where more than a year and a half of fighting has seen large swaths of the Palestinian territory reduced to rubble and few hospitals remain functioning, the public health situation is dire.

"The emergency medical team support, procurement of the medications and the rehabilitation of the health care facilities, all of that has been immediately impacted by the freeze of the US support," said Balkhy.

In Sudan, the WHO is facing mounting issues amid a bloody civil war that has displaced millions, with several areas hit by at least three different disease outbreaks -- malaria, dengue and cholera, according to Balkhy.

"We work significantly to identify emerging and re-emerging pathogens to keep the Sudanese safe, but also to keep the rest of the world safe. So it will impact our ability to continue to do surveillance, detection of diseases," she added.

A US departure from the WHO will also undercut long established channels of communication with leading research facilities, universities and public health institutions that are based in the United States.

That in turn would likely prevent the easy sharing of information and research, which is pivotal to heading off global public health crises like an emerging pandemic, said Balkhy.

"These bacteria and viruses, number one, know no borders. Number two, they are ambivalent to what's happening in the human political landscape."

 

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